Beagle Scout

I’ve been thinking a lot about the prospects of the much feared age of “Big Brother” — where the Government knows all and uses that information to suppress.  And as dedicated readers know, my view of America and our past and future was radically altered after I read the book “The Fourth Turning.” Clearly there are a lot of elements to Orwell’s vision that have arrived — too many to list, but originating with the Bush-era Department of Homeland Security.  But recently, I’ve thought about a new phenomenon that turns “1984″ upside down.

I’ve also been pondering (under the influence of “The Fourth Turning”) whether or not the United States is in a “low grade civil war” (here and here) and whether it will become a “hot” one.  Yesterday’s Investor’s Business Daily has an editorial that combines all of these ideas and lays it on the line. Read more at www.gaypatriot.net

Washington, Jul 29 - Republican Study Committee Chairman Tom Price (R-GA) issued the following statement after offering a resolution on the floor of the House of Representatives calling on Congress not to hold a lame duck session after Election Day for the purpose of passing hugely unpopular legislation like a national energy tax, enormous deficit spending bills, and the kickback to Big Labor known as “Card Check.” “Americans are sick and tired of their elected leaders making backroom deals to ram through unpopular, 2000-page bills that no one has read,” said Chairman Price.  “They are sick of out-of-touch politicians, and they are tired of being ignored.  A number of Democrats, including members of their leadership, have recently expressed a desire to ignore the public will and use a lame duck session to pass liberal legislation Americans do not want.  Today I gave my Democrat colleagues an opportunity to show they are finally ready to listen to the American people.Read more at rsc.tomprice.house.gov

Under a little-noticed provision of the recently passed financial-reform legislation, the Securities and Exchange Commission no longer has to comply with virtually all requests for information releases from the public, including those filed under the Freedom of Information Act. The law, signed last week by President Obama, exempts the SEC from disclosing records or information derived from “surveillance, risk assessments, or other regulatory and oversight activities.” Given that the SEC is a regulatory body, the provision covers almost every action by the agency, lawyers say. Congress and federal agencies can request information, but the public cannot. That argument comes despite the President saying that one of the cornerstones of the sweeping new legislation was more transparent financial markets. Indeed, in touting the new law, Obama specifically said it would “increase transparency in financial dealings.” The SEC cited the new law Tuesday in a FOIA action brought by FOX Business Network. Steven Mintz, founding partner of law firm Mintz & Gold LLC in New York, lamented what he described as “the backroom deal that was cut between Congress and the SEC to keep the  SEC’s failures secret. The only losers here are the American public.”

FOX Business Network sued the SEC in March 2009 over its failure to produce documents related to its failed investigations into alleged investment frauds being perpetrated by Madoff and R. Allen Stanford. Following the Madoff and Stanford arrests it, was revealed that the SEC conducted investigations into both men prior to their arrests but failed to uncover their alleged frauds. FOX Business made its initial request to the SEC in February 2009 seeking any information related to the agency’s response to complaints, tips and inquiries or any potential violations of the securities law or wrongdoing by Stanford. FOX Business has also filed lawsuits against the Treasury Department and Federal Reserve over their failure to respond to FOIA requests regarding use of the bailout funds and the Fed’s extended loan facilities. In February, the Federal Court in New York sided with FOX Business and ordered the Treasury to comply with its requests. Last year, the network won a legal victory to force the release of documents related to New York University’s lawsuit against Madoff feeder Ezra Merkin. Read more at www.foxbusiness.com

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Too many reporters try to look at the issue in terms of who occupies the Oval Office, and this view of it overlooks the fact that all federal budget items must originate in the US House. The Rs took over the US House in January of 1995 and they held the majority until January of 2007. For four straight years starting in 1998 the US federal government had budget surplusses instead of budget deficit. In six of the other eight years of Republican majority House rule we have smaller budget deficits than any annual budget deficit from 1982 thru 1993 when the Ds were in the majority in the US House. Now when the Ds took over the majority in the US House some new budget deficit records were set. Three straight years of 2008 thru 2010 are higher federal budget deficits than this country has ever seen.Read more at www.redstate.com

News Analysis: The weak U.S. economy and more stringent scrutiny from an often hostile immigration bureaucracy has caused a sharp increase in the number of unused H-1B work visa slots.

The flagging U.S. economy is a major reason why nearly 40,000 H-1B visa application slots are currently unused, and an additional 9,000 slots in the Masters Exemption program are still open.

This is a significant drop in applications from previous years, according to immigration attorney Kellie Lego, managing attorney of the MVP Law Group in Burtonsville, Md., near Washington, D.C. “It has to do a lot with the economy and the issue of unemployment in the U.S.,” Lego said. She said that a few major corporations are continuing to bring employees into the United States on H-1B visas, but that the overall numbers have shown a huge decrease. Read more at www.eweek.com

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Frankfurt, Germany, December 6 – A rather bizarre study carried out by German researchers suggests that staring at women’s breasts is good for men’s health and increases their life expectancy. According to Dr. Karen Weatherby, a gerontologist and author of the study, gawking at women’s breasts is a healthy practice, almost at par with an intense exercise regime, that prolongs the lifespan of a man by five years. She added, “Just 10 minutes of staring at the charms of a well-endowed female, is roughly equivalent to a 30-minute aerobics work-out.”

<img src="http://content8.clipmarks.com/clog_clip_cache/amplify.com/FEFD4CEE-C8DC-42C7-A109-E61C45A6D82D/D4C8A48E-A6DF-4D20-9137-0EB05F55196B" alt="Frankfurt, Germany, December 6 – A rather bizarre study carried out by German researchers suggests that staring at women’s breasts is good for men’s health and increases their life expectancy.” width=”300″ height=”225″/> See more at www.themedguru.com